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songfx
Adventuring Hero
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posted August 08, 2010 11:49 AM |
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Edited by songfx at 03:49, 09 Aug 2010.
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Quote: Started again (and again, and again). Can't resist the feeling I'm getting too little for too hard battles. With x3 multiplayer, yes, I can defeat a legions surrounding the castle in first month (with Orrin), but then I got stuck against legion of Archmagi and can't get anything more to improve the army. After a battle which resulted in loosing all the troops... nothing seems to have changed. Nothing to pick, nothing to imrove. And there are even worse threats ahead.
Keep your henchman and second henchman survived in each battle.They will help much for your way out.
If you can't win a battle, hit and run.
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songfx
Adventuring Hero
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posted August 08, 2010 11:57 AM |
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Quote:
Am I missing something?
What is the deal with searching the well? It never gave me anything.
Such a wretched thing should be done by a rogue. Try to hire a rogue and let him search all the ten wells.
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted August 08, 2010 12:05 PM |
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Hidden skills are enabled in this map. If you know how to switch skills using a commander artefact (available at the battle academy for gold) you can get all skills except scholar (will be available late game).
The battles are hard, but a well developed henchmen will become very strong. In general you can fight anything in the first two months with only commander and henchmen (a few fodder sometimes). You know that you can multiply your town growth, right? If you improve level 7 building in town EVERY day, you will have a nice growth after a few weeks. 40 Archangels to recruit every week and upgrade at hill fort for example is enough to survive for 3-4 months.
After that you will have to get the scroll of Water Walk (700 azure guards on cursed ground). This battle is the hardest early battle and may require multiple come back (the ones you kill are subtracted if come back). If you kill early Inteus you will be able to recruit Phoenix->Supreme Phoenix, which have a high rebirth rate and are very useful for hard battles (block shooters, protect your shooters etc).
Once the scroll in backpack, you may want to pay a visit to the emerald towers and palace of dreams. Of course, the first thing to buy would be no retaliation for your main level 7 creature, then clone, reduce defense, attack and return, age etc, there are endless options.
Once you get scholar you can teach to your scouts town portal and water walk, therefore you can park 3 of them on the emerald towers and not be concerned anymore by visiting them every week.
But of course, you need mithril, so the first goal would be to gather all mithril mines on the map, which are quite well guarded.
Eliminating AI is an early priority because a) each week it becomes much stronger b) there are mines around his towns.
Gathering ghosts is also a good thing, as they can be sold to the freelancers and become rich, as upgrading every day in your town is asking for huge loads of resources.
I don't say everything must be done in this order, you can skip some, choose others way etc.
The well quest: it asks you to send one creature inside. Regardless who you send, it will give you a spyglass or your creature will vanish. The dialogs will give hints about who can enter the well and who can't (too big head, too long legs etc). Hint: after sending someone in, press space bar to see the result. Once you visited all wells on the map (10) and have 10 spyglass, some hidden rogue will give you a part of the ultimate combo for them. And so on.
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Era II mods and utilities
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted August 08, 2010 12:56 PM |
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Small screen from my first test with Gem. Level 108 first aid tent on 9th month.
Available with balista too.
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Warmonger
Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
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posted August 08, 2010 07:31 PM |
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Map help says creature banks should respawn every two weeks, but they act as usual. Cyclops stockpile would be VERY helpful in first month.
Why are taverns guarded by throngs of Sacred Phoenixes? Another quest?
Anyway, now tried to break through the gate with Orrin. There are over 400 Diamond Dragons (playing x2 setting, 1/12 health bonus) that eat me in three rounds. It's week 5, I have cleared almost all cloudy land. No interesting artifacts found. Hero is level 34, Henchmen 7 and 8, biggest stack only 200 Ice elementals. Town looks poor, not all structures build, no dwelling upgrades yet - though started Sphinx farming few days ago.
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The future of Heroes 3 is here!
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Vicius
Hired Hero
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posted August 08, 2010 09:23 PM |
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Quote: Small screen from my first test with Gem. Level 108 first aid tent on 9th month.
Available with balista too.
Is there any way of remotely increasing level of war machines? I find it too time consuming having to go to town to level them up (don't have town portal yet). Transfering them through hero trades doesn't work.
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted August 08, 2010 09:41 PM |
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Anything else to please you? Want me to play it at your computer too and bring your balista to high level?
@Warmonger: those dragons must be killed first week, even if you have to return to fight them 2-3 times.
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angelito
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
proud father of a princess
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posted August 08, 2010 11:03 PM |
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Started the map today to check the idea.
I tried the quadruple way a few times, but i think this is too much luck related, means, it is important what creatures you have to fight against in the first 3 or 4 fights. If you face marauders with 12 and 16 hitpoints, halbadiers with 16 hitpoints and mater gremlins, you are dead meat most of the time.
So I tried with double and the 1/8 thing (default), and this went a bit better.
My problems often with those maps is, you never know if you are too slow. How much army do you need when proceeding further, when breaking into next area etc... Is it important to do ALL things around your town before you go further? If you recognize on week 4 you have missed something important in starting area in week 1, it's not that amusing you know.
So is there some kind of time line you could follow, just a general one?
Here is what I did till day 7 week 1: (If I would have built mage guild earlier and visit it with Azrael, maybe some fights woudl have been much easier...lol)
- flagged ALL mines
- flagged ALL dwellings except lichs
- killed hydras for this opal of magic (only haste spell present...even though Azrael already had expert earth...and slow in mage guild...lol)
- Both henchmen (blood dragon, hydra) are level 5.
- Azrael is level 24.
- 1500 Skeletons in army at highest level.
- Tent is level 4.
Left to do in my area:
- Lots Angels guarding shipyard
- Lots Ancients guarding a mercenary camp (special award???)
- Lots Giants guarding expert fire booster (important??)
- Lots Titans guarding lich dwelling
So should I start new, or is it acceptable like this?
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Better judged by 12 than carried by 6.
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted August 08, 2010 11:36 PM |
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It depends only on the settings you choose. If you checked "AI leaders move only 15 squares" then you have unlimited time, almost.
The pattern is same for all leaders, they start in a closed area and every way to get out from there is guarded by level 7. So naturally, they must be defeated in priority, because with the special growth settings, they may be too difficult later (see Warmonger's post)
Once you flagged the shipyard or freed the red gates the clock is stopped and you can explore almost the totality of the upper level.
In general, the first game is confusing and you should not care about speed or score, because it is quite special and needs accommodation. Once you fought for about 4-5 months and understood how the growth and neutrals abilities work, you will no more have problems identifying a feasible fight from a not feasible one.
From what I read, you made an optimal start. Main area should be cleared by day 7, and be in boat as soon as you can. The neutrals towns around are guarded by level 7 too, and this is the reason we need to speed the start a little, as later those 7 level become really hard, and new towns help the economy.
Also you don't have to worry about being different. Your HoMM3 experience will be enough to overcome those difficulties, the mechanics remained unchanged.
One more thing we forgot to add in the help and which is very important:
When having hundred thousands of creatures (specially Azrael), when trying to split them, their experience will go negative by a hundred million at least, therefore they will lose all abilities. (Heroes can't handle so big numbers).
We added a script fix, so when this happens, right click on the concerned stack, and its experience will be instantly restored at ACE level. Naturally, it works only if the bug occurred, don't try to get free experience, will not work. Moreover, pay attention when splitting millions of creatures, as sometimes they may simply vanish.
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Vicius
Hired Hero
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posted August 09, 2010 12:03 AM |
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Edited by Vicius at 00:09, 09 Aug 2010.
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Quote: Anything else to please you? Want me to play it at your computer too and bring your balista to high level?
@Warmonger: those dragons must be killed first week, even if you have to return to fight them 2-3 times.
Nope, was just asking if there was a way, not asking you to make one. I suppose you used town portal to quickly get it up high, then?
Quote:
One more thing we forgot to add in the help and which is very important:
When having hundred thousands of creatures (specially Azrael), when trying to split them, their experience will go negative by a hundred million at least, therefore they will lose all abilities. (Heroes can't handle so big numbers).
We added a script fix, so when this happens, right click on the concerned stack, and its experience will be instantly restored at ACE level. Naturally, it works only if the bug occurred, don't try to get free experience, will not work. Moreover, pay attention when splitting millions of creatures, as sometimes they may simply vanish.
Thank you, this has been bugging me for a while now, didn't know there was a fix for it.
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted August 09, 2010 12:09 AM |
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Yes, they are not important. I started upgrading it for fun when I had town portal and could visit all towns the same day, thus upgrade several times. But levl 1 or 108, it does not makes much difference when your skeletons have 3000 health each.
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Vicius
Hired Hero
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posted August 09, 2010 02:43 AM |
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Edited by Vicius at 02:52, 09 Aug 2010.
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What exactly does the helmet you get from turning in the barbarian lord's axe of ferocity do? From what I understand it`s +5 attack and trail of darkness ability (like when you have darkness dragons in your army). Or is it something else?
Btw, any tips on how to get helmets, other than dragontooth crown? They`re the only one I got from Dragon utopias, neutral armies don`t seem to drop any, neither are any appearing in artifact merchants. I really need a few more to make other combination artifacts.
The only helmet I got so far was a helmet of alabaster unicorn which I had to take to an artificer to make the barb lord's axe.
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted August 09, 2010 07:38 AM |
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1) 7 black markets
2) towns artefact market (reset every month)
3) Battle academy (sells one random artefact every day)
4) 7 Dragon Utopias (drops artefact you can't find elsewhere and resets every month)
Helmet is part of the invincibility suit. You need to gather all 9 parts to enable the combo.
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nevter
Tavern Dweller
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posted August 09, 2010 12:35 PM |
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heres my save with bugged banshe henchman [url=http://www.mediafire.com/?fd3ecnxb0774uu6]save[/url]
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted August 09, 2010 12:49 PM |
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nevter
Tavern Dweller
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posted August 09, 2010 01:03 PM |
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yeah, when banshee reached 142 lv, its something with clone
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted August 09, 2010 01:07 PM |
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I will try to play a game with Xarfax. I sent your save to Jim, he has (maybe) a way to debug it. I never had such crash.
I unpacked your save and checked with total commander. At banshee it says she is dead:
Hell Baron evel} : 142
{Level Rate} : 200 {Status for next level} : 74
{Status Total} : 28326 {Earned} : 27605 {Bonus} : 721
Attack : 58
Defense : 58
Health : 15620
Damage : 3124-3550
Speed : 25
<<<<<{DEAD}>>>>
However the game seems to ignore it, no revive option when visited a town. If the banshee attack kills entirely a stack, the game does not crash. If not, it crashes. The banshee is scripted to revive after each battle if killed, but some bug put his nose here.
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Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
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posted August 09, 2010 05:42 PM |
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@Nevter: we found a bug in your save. Here is what you have to do:
Select either damage-type or curse-type spells from the Banshee Menu at the first turn of the battle (before the Banshee does anything).
(This must be done after every visit to the Palace of dreams)
You can continue if do this.
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Era II mods and utilities
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Maciek
Known Hero
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posted August 09, 2010 06:31 PM |
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Great map! I'm also playing with Xarfax. So far it feels much like one of those large homm4 maps with enemy strength adequate to my super-hero strength. At some point I used several hell barons, but finally left them at some secondary hero, coz they were too flimsy for my main army. It's currently early month 4, AIs just eliminated, some low growth settings, the only significant location I conquered is 1 mithril mine, which now acts much as a gold mine mine.
About Banshee behaviour(I don't know if the following effect was intended):
If the random curse she casts is bind, then it doesn't stop working after she moves away from the target. If a clone of Banshee casts it, efect doesn't expire even after that clone is destroyed! Target can never move again.
I wonder if it will work that way if I give fly, no retal and hit&run to dendroids?
And Banshee resurrection cost is surprisingly little compared to commander resurrection cost.
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Vicius
Hired Hero
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posted August 09, 2010 10:46 PM |
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Edited by Vicius at 22:49, 09 Aug 2010.
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Quote: 1) 7 black markets
2) towns artefact market (reset every month)
3) Battle academy (sells one random artefact every day)
4) 7 Dragon Utopias (drops artefact you can't find elsewhere and resets every month)
Helmet is part of the invincibility suit. You need to gather all 9 parts to enable the combo.
Wow, I must be having really bad luck then, because I tried all those (at least the ones accessbile to me), and none of them are giving me helmets. Battle academies are only giving swords, shields and commander artifacts, and black markets/artifact merchants have all but helmets in them.
At least I found another helmet lying around in a kind of hidden place, but that still leaves me at least one short of making the other necessary artifacts for quest guards.
Guess I'll have to take my time and farm dragon utopias for some, then.
Anyways, just one more question: any hints on where to find the pyramid with sacrifice? No need to give me exact location, just tell me if it's in surface or not, hidden or in plain sight and if it's just not supposed to be accessbile until you complete whatever quest. So far I only managed the spy glass quest, and the axe of ferocity, everything else that seems important is unreachable because of me not having water walk.
I think that's what holding me back, right now, as I'm a bit stumped for not being able to find the water walk scroll, and I'm thinking getting all three spells for the shrines of incantation will help with that. Either that or one of the AI heroes beat me to it, retreated in a fight while carrying it, and then I vanquished it's colour, losing that hero and the scroll forever, since the only spot I saw with cursed ground (which is where I suppose it should be) was not only inaccessbile (without having water walk, ironically), but had no dragons or artifacts on it (unless it`s a triggered event).
Again, if I'm wrong about the above, no need to spoil how it all must be done, but just a general pointer in the right direction would be nice, please.
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